


Underwater

by thatoneguynobodyknows



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Junkfish, M/M, eeeh, fisherman! Mako, how do you tag things?, it's a junkfish au, merman! jamision
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 01:35:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12288435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatoneguynobodyknows/pseuds/thatoneguynobodyknows
Summary: Mako didn't very much enjoy his life as a retired fisherman in a shitty town in the armpit of nowhere, but he was accepting of it. He figured that's how most people felt when they got his age anyways. It's when a drunken man rambling about urban legends and fish people hired him to search the waters for the impossible that his life starts to get chaotic and interesting again.





	1. Under the water

He hated this town. He hated how it always smelled of fish, and that the pier always creaked concerningly under his feet when he walked. He didn’t like the people, with of course, some exceptions, but most here were loud, and stupid, never had the proper chance at any schooling, and swore with every sentence. But this shitty seaside town had been his home since he was a young man.

 

Now, a lot older, a lot greyer, approaching his fifties, Mako thought he’d be far away from this place by now. He thought he would have seen more, and done more, but he was tired now, too tired to uproot everything and get out of here like he had planned so many times before. He was almost resigned to the idea that he would die in this waterlogged clump of driftwood. Years really did go by quicker than he knew they could. Things were at least simpler now. When he was younger, more spry, he worked on a fishing ship where he spent most days hoisting heavy nets full of fish onto the ship with the rest of the crew. He could still do his fair share of heavy lifting, but not all day, all week. He quit after the third time he threw his back out, and downgraded to a smaller, personal boat where he could spend his days fishing for himself. Gave him something to do, and it could get him some extra coin in his pocket.

 

When he wasn’t fishing, he was staring down a tankard of beer. How else does an old, grisled man spend his time? This evening, like many other, he found himself sat at the grungy bar, perched on a barstool that groaned under his weight. He order the usual with a grunt at the bartender, needing no words. He was only halfway through his drink when a loud, slurred voice caught his attention. Hell, it probably caught the whole bars attention with how loud the man was being. Sparing a peek, Mako saw an elderly man, complete with a beer-gut and a patchy, gross beard. He didn’t have to look for very long to be able to tell he was incredibly drunk. 

 

“It’s true! I saw it!! Saw it with me own eyes, I did! It was mean! And slimy! It could kill ya with one look, I could tell just by witnessin’ it!” The drunkard carried on, spitting as he spoke. The men around him laughed, most equally as drunk, if not, well on their way, waving their glasses in the air as they mocked the man and chortled to each other. Mako was half listening. Hearing about an urban legend sounded like more fun than sitting here with his thoughts. He wished he hadn’t. While looking over, he made accidental eye contact with the old man, and he took that as his que to invite Mako to their conversation. “Oi, you! Yeah, the biggun! You, I’ve seen ya before!” The man slurred as he got closer to Mako, and Mako tried to ignore him. 

 

“Yeah, you’re that fisherman, arentcha? I see ya on your tiny boat sometimes, goin’ far out where no one else fishes, keepin’ to your lonesome. You seen it??” Mako wrinkled his nose at the booze on the man’s breath, and the green in his gums. Against his better judgement, he responded. “What?” He hissed in his most menacing, gravelly voice, but the man was far too drunk to take this as a warning and continued. “The thing in the water! The monster!” He rambled, becoming more excited as he went. Mako looked unimpressed and the man continued. “There’s a thing in the water, a creature that’s half fish, half man! I saw it, seen it with my own eyes while sailin’ on me own in empty waters!”

 

The men that were heckling at him from before had followed the man over to Mako in a flock, cackling and hooting as the man seemed to speak craziness. A heavy glare from Mako got them to quiet down, though, so he could actually hear whatever the drunkard was saying. “Like a mermaid--’sept it ain’t any type a’ mermaid I ever heard a’ before! It had pasty skin, and grimy scales. Sharp teeth in rows like a shark n’ it’s eyes were yellow like a serpent! It hissed at me, even, n’ stole my catch right off the line. It was real! I saw it. It’s real.” The man got closer as he insisted, making Mako lean away.

 

“Piss off.” Mako grunted, turning his attention back to his drink. The man seemed frustrated at his lack of interest, and probably everyone else’s lack of belief of this wild tale. “Wait, wait--I got a proposition for ya, fisherman. I want you ta take your boat, n’ go out there, and kill the beast! Then, you bring the corpse back here so I can laugh at everyone who’s been callin’ me a liar!” Mako let out an amused snort. “Not going to happen. Leave me alone.” The sound of something heavy landing on the bar in front of him made Mako look up. A drawstring bag, about as big around as his fist sat in front of him. He sent the man a dubious glance, and carefully opened the bag. It was full of coins, a good amount of it, actually. Before he could ask the man where he could possibly get all this money, he answered. “Sold my boat the day I ran into the creature. Wasn’t going back in the water after that.”

 

“This is half, friend. You get half now, n’ half when you actually get the monster. You find me the beast, n’ the rest is yours!” The man grinned, seeming content that waving money in front of Mako’s face got his attention. Mako only pondered for a moment, before grabbing the bag and standing. “Deal.” He left the bar without finishing his drink, and quickly went home to put the coins in a safe place before the man could change his mind. 

 

He woke up the next day feeling satisfied and gladly went out on his boat after breakfast. He had no intention of actually looking for the creature the man described. It was clearly all a fairy tale. But he had wanted to go fishing today anyways, and at least this way, someone may be able to vouch for him if the drunkard shows up and asks if he had actually been holding up his end of the deal.

 

It worked for a while. He had the money, he went fishing, nobody bothered him. He had almost forgotten about the deal when the drunk man popped up randomly one day at the docks. Well, he wasn’t drunk this time. He told him his name, but Mako quickly forgot it, so he was stuck with the title of “the man from the bar”. The man from the bar came to check up on him, surprisingly not upset about him drunkenly giving away his money. He just wanted to know if Mako had seen anything yet. Mako answered honestly. No, he hadn’t. So the man decided to give him some tips. He told him he’d seen the creature by the cove only a mile or so away from the beach. Mako knew of it, everyone did. Nobody went there because the water got shallow and it was low on fish. Also, it was kind of creepy. A cave swallowed most of the land and water, and it was dense with sea plants and land plants alike, untouched by man.

 

Mako decided to go there one day. Not because he was expecting to see the sea monster that the man described. He just thought he might be able to catch something interesting outside of his normal fishing spots. It would give him quiet, and new scenery. Also, he could describe the surroundings if the man wanted to make sure he was holding up his end of the deal. He knew that the man just wasted his money, but Mako decided to humor the man. Hell, it gave him something to do. He goes there three days in a row, and nothing happens. It’s quiet there, almost too quiet. Not even the birds come here, it seems. It’s on the fourth day that a loud splash demands his attention. Whatever has made the noise, it was big. Far bigger than any of the fish he had been catching around here. He glanced over the edge of the boat and saw nothing. Just quiet waves lapping against the boat, blue water, and the vague image of sea plants swaying with the current. Weird. 

 

On day ten, it happens again. Since the first splash, Mako had been keeping a keener eye on the water, and this time caught sight of a long tail. It had spines, a mix of orange, brown, and white scales. It quickly swam out of sight before he could make out anything else. From the looks of the tail, he would say it was a lizardfish, but it was way too big to be one of those. It must have been about the size of a shark. Mako furrowed his brow at the water. Whatever it was, it wasn’t normal. 

 

The next day, he comes back with bigger bate. A bigger hook and stronger line. He skewers half of a large fish onto the hook and drops it into the water, making sure the line is secure on the side of the boat. He watched the water for a while, and when nothing happened, he relaxed, sitting in the chair he had positioned on the deck. An hour later, his attention is jerked back to the line when the rope is jerked back and forth in the water. Something large was clearly wrestling with it. He hustled to the side of the boat and glanced down into the water to see his view blocked by the white foam being kicked up by the line being jerked around so violently. He sees the same tail swing out of the water a few times, flinging water everywhere. He goes to the hook and starts to reel it in, only for the struggling to stop, and his hook to come back clean. He huffed, and looked over the side of the boat again. His eyes widened as he caught sight of something he certainly had never seen in the ocean before. 

 

Orange eyes staring back at him.


	2. Beached

The eyes haunted Mako when he tried to go to sleep that night. He stared at the ceiling of his cozy home, large hands resting on his stomach, restless. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He had booked it out of there as quickly as he could after the unexpected eye contact but he still didn't feel safe, even on land. He felt like the eyes could still see him, even now. With a groan, he rubbed a hand down his face, scrubbing at his eyes. He felt like a kid again, afraid of monsters.

 

Maybe his eyes made it up. The water was murky, after all. It wasn't easy to make out much that wasn't right underneath the surface. But they looked so real. And the tail flying about was definitely real. It made it even more unsettling that they weren't the eyes of a fish either. Most fish had eyes on either side of their head other than the particularly ugly ones who have eyes on the top of their head or something. And even those are beady and animal like. These eyes...they were definitely human...or at least human-ish. Fish don't have blond eyelashes. He could even make out a pale blur that must have been it's face.

 

He had to see it's face. At this point, just to make sure he hasn't gone crazy too, like the old man who sent him on this wild goose chase. Maybe he'd fish whatever it was out of the water and it'll end up being disappointing, like a corpse, or an ugly fish...but part of him hopes it won’t be something so predictable. 

 

He comes back the next day with a new resolve and little sleep. He walked into town and bought a handful of crabs from the fish market. They were cheap, too. The guy running the stall was an old crewmate. He took them home and cooked them up, and somewhere between cracking the crabs open slightly and seasoning them with garlic, he wondered if he was being an idiot for seasoning the bait for what might just be a fish. He just thought he'd have a better chance of drawing the thing in if the bait was really good. Something better than a half rotten catch.

 

He packs the crab up in a cage that was normally meant to keep crabs in. Now it was going to keep something out too. He sailed out to the cove again, the cloudy sky making it more creepy than usual. He dropped his net into the water and then tied the cage to a rope and dropped the bait in after it. He's only waiting for about five minutes when the rope started to jerk around violently, much like it had the day before. The struggling seemed to slow for a moment, no doubt because the creature was trying to figure out how to get into the cage and to the meat inside. Mako didn't skip a beat. He used it's moment of distraction to his advantage and lunged for the net, yanking it upward in one hefty tug. That splotchy tail made it's appearance once again, flapping about in a panic. He caught it, there was no way it was getting out of the net now. It was just a matter of getting it out of the water.

It wasn't heavy by any means, but it was strong. It fought terribly as it was being dragged out of the water and Mako had to adjust his grip a few times to make sure he didn't drop it. With a grunt, and more force than necessary, Mako threw the creature onto the deck of the boat and finally got a chance to catch his breath and look at it. 

 

It was just like the man said. A mermaid...well, maybe not just like the man said. He painted it as some kind of hideous monster, but this thing looked like it would fall over if you sneezed in it's direction. It's eyes are orange, not yellow, not like a serpent, though there was no white in it’s eyes, just orange, and the pitch black of it’s pupil. It reminds him of honey, or amber. It's a warm color. His eyes are also wide and frantic, darting from him to his surroundings rapidly with no pattern or sense. Like a scared animal, he thinks. It's missing an arm is the next thing he noticed, right below the elbow. In fact, it's right side looked like it had faced a lot of damage. It's tail is scarred with fleshy pink lines carving it's way through scales. The delicate webbing between its spines are in tatters and it's caudal fin has a chunk taken out of it. It's human half is long and narrow. So skinny, he can see it’s bones. He sees some muscle there to make up for it but no fat. It's pale from a lifetime underwater and he sees slits on either side of it's neck fanning--gills, he realizes. He didn't expect it to have freckles. Or patchy blonde hair. The man did get the teeth right, though. They were sharp, like a predator, but not in rows like a shark. In fact, when the fish man props itself up on it’s elbows and snarls at him, he see’s a couple of it’s teeth missing. If it were anything like a shark, it’s missing teeth would have like two more growing in the place of the old one. 

 

It’s not pretty like mermaids are supposed to be. It doesn’t have long pretty hair or an enchanting voice. In fact, he thought mermaids were supposed to be girls, he had never heard of a boy mermaid before. Merman? If it’s flat chest was anything to go by, it was definitely a boy. It hissed and snarled too much to be pretty. Mako feels like if it weren’t so vicious, or slimy from algae, that it might somehow be pretty in a weird way.

 

He leaned against the railing of the boat and watched the mermaid thrash about in the net wildly, tossing itself off the deck before it would land again with a heavy thud. The more it fought, the more it managed to get itself tangled in the net, and it tired quickly, left panting in a puddle on the wood, weakly clawing at the rope.It seemed to be able to breathe out of the water just fine. It wasn’t gasping desperately for air or anything, it just seemed to have exhausted itself. It would make a few more desperate jerks now and then in the net, but otherwise seemed to be out of energy. Slowly, after watching the mermaid for a minute, it finally clicked. What he was actually looking at.

 

A real mermaid. A thing of legend, and fairy tales was sitting right in front of him, as real as Mako himself. This was huge, this was a discovery! Fuck the man from the bar, Mako was going to take this thing as far as he could get it. He would make a fortune. He’d sell it maybe, to whatever circus or scholar wanted it, as long as they could pay well. Maybe to a noble or something, there’s bound to be some rich and spoiled family that would love to keep a mermaid as some kind of twisted pet, to show off to their other rich friends. Maybe Mako would keep it, charge people to come and see it. People would come from miles away just to get a glimpse at it. Mako quickly put that last thought out of his mind. He didn’t want this thing, or to have to deal with anymore people than he already does.He just wants the money, so he can live out the rest of his life comfortably. Maybe he would finally get out of this town. 

 

“Hey--Stop--hey!” Mako snapped as he took a few steps closer and was nearly knocked onto his ass by that tail slapping into his legs. The creature hissed in response. At least the man got that part right. It did hiss, like an angry cat. It tensed as Mako got closer and bore holes into him with orange eyes. “Easy, I’m going to take the net off of you now.” Mako tried but he figures he might as well be talking to the floorboards right now, because the creature made no sign of understanding him. As soon as Mako touched the net, the creature jerked like it was about to pull another crazy frenzy of thrashing around and growling. Mako paused, however, and the creature waited with unsure eyes. When he figured it was okay to move again, Mako slowly started to untangle the net from it’s person. It’s difficult, the fish had really tangled himself into it, but it’s nothing Mako can’t do. He lifts the wet net away and drops it onto the boat, kicking the cage of crabs out of the way while he’s at it. 

 

The mermaid looks up at him with wide, surprised eyes, chest heaving, before it quickly flipped onto it’s stomach and started crawling to the edge of the boat at surprising speed and dexterity. “Hey!” Mako snapped and barely got his hand around the end of it’s tail in time to keep it from jumping overboard. The mermaid started to hiss and flail again, and it made a few attempts to bite at Mako’s legs as he lifted it off the floor, dangling it upside down. He adjusted his grip quickly and carefully, tugging it by the arms before he managed to get it into some sort of headlock. His massive arms kept it pinned to his chest, and it snapped at the air but was unable to sink it’s teeth into anything in this position. He was unsure of what to do with it for a moment. He didn’t really think this far. His gaze landed on a barrel sitting by the door that led to the little cabin inside the boat. It was empty, he remembered, he’d been meaning to get rid of it for a while now. It should be the perfect size to hold a certain large and angry fish man while he made his way back to land.

 

He started dragging the unwilling mermaid over to the barrel, and it hissed and weakly swung it’s tail out. It would be a challenge to get it in there, but he knew he could manage it. The creature seemed to take one look at the dark opening of the barrel and recoiled, nearly wrapping itself around Mako’s arms. It’s nails felt like needles digging into his skin. They were probably claws now that he thought about it. It did seem to be a predator after all. It shrieked, and chittered in a way that almost sounded like a dolphin. A fucked up kind of dolphin. Mako peeled it’s tail off of him, and was ready to just dump it and shove into the barrel with less gentleness than he planned when the creature spoke. 

 

“No!” It cried in a squeaky voice. High pitched but male, definitely, and it took Mako’s moment of surprise to curl it’s tail away from the barrel again. “So you can talk…” Mako stated with a furrow in his brow. The mermaid seemed fearful, and whimpered against the arm pressed to it’s throat. “Y...yeah--I talk.” It finally stammered like it didn’t want to admit it. It’s one hand was slimy against Mako’s arm, and it’s fingers tensed every now and then nervously. “Let go a’ me!” It hissed like it was trying to sound intimidating, but there was something cowardly in it’s voice. It’s voice...he wasn’t expecting an Australian accent. He didn’t know what he was expecting but it wasn’t that. It squirmed helplessly, and for a moment, Mako was hesitant. His plans seemed worse somehow, now that he knew the creature was at least somewhat intelligent, and not completely feral. But what was he supposed to do? Toss it back in and forget about it? Fuck that. Finding his nerve again, he wrapped a massive hand around it’s skinny torso and went for the barrel again, and the creature promptly shrieked in response. It didn’t make it easy, and it almost knocked the barrel over a few times with it’s tail, but Mako was slowly beginning to find the upperhand. The creature had gotten him pretty good with it’s claws and a few heavy whacks to the side of his head, but after a bit, the mermaid found it’s tail resting in the barrel, restricting it’s movement. In a fit of desperation, the mermaid swung around and knotted it’s hand into his shirt, holding on for dear life as Mako tried to stuff the rest of it into the barrel. “Wait! Wait! I’ll--I’ll grant you a wish if you let me go!”

 

Mako paused, caught off guard. He frowned and his brows furrowed, and the two froze their struggling with each other, stuck staring at each other like they were waiting for one another to say something. “...Mermaids can’t grant wishes.” Mako said. He never heard of such a thing before, but then again, it wasn’t like he knew everything there was to know about mermaids to begin with. “S-sure I can!” He managed a wobbly grin in his direction. “As soon as you let me go, I’ll grant ya whatever yer lil human heart desires!” It said, and Mako huffed. “Nice try.” He moved to finally stuff the creature into the container, and it cried out again. “Wait, wait!! Okay, you caught me! I can’t grant wishes--but I can still make ya real happy if you let me go! I can make you rich!” He exclaimed loudly, and Mako finally paused. 

 

He looked down at the creature with a skeptical look in his eyes. “That’s the idea. You’re my ticket out of this place. People are going to be willing to pay a fortune for you, what do you have that’ll top that?” He challenged, leaning down so he was nearly nose to nose with the creature, who leaned back nervously in his grip. “I--I have loads of shiny things! Those things--Coins, that’s what you humans call them! Stones, pretty things that you wear on your hands and neck, that kinda thing! You humans drop ‘em in the ocean all the time. Sometimes I find whole chests of ‘em! I’ll give ya half of it, all yours, just gotta let me go!” Mako thought about it for a moment. He thought about all the ships that have sunk in the ocean, the legends of pirates that took their treasure with them to their watery grave. This slimy mermaid could have gotten his hands on all of it, and then some. And besides the jewels and treasure, there must be other priceless items just resting at the bottom of the ocean the humans have never set eyes on before. Pearls, lost art, hell, if mermaids can exist, maybe even underwater civilizations. This could leave him wealthier than his wildest dreams. He could do anything with that kind of money. 

 

The mermaid seemed to relax a bit when he realized Mako was considering his offer. “Deal?” It asked with a sharp grin. Mako fixed the mermaid with a dubious look, before snarling at him. “You double-cross me, and I’ll hunt you down.” He hissed. The nervousness came back quickly, but the mermaid’s smile didn’t leave. “Y-yeah, okay, no worries, mate. No worries!” It insisted, and Mako let himself relax a bit. The creature tensed up, digging it’s claws into his arm again with he went to put it in the barrel. “Hey, hey, what are you doing?! We had a deal!” It squawked and Mako grumbled to himself in annoyance. “If you think I’m just going to toss you back into the water, you’re an idiot. I’m not going to put the lid on.” The mermaid still seemed nervous but let himself be lowered into the barrel anyways. It kept it’s arms outside of the barrel, hand gripping tight at the lip of the barrel like it was afraid he would betray him and the dark, cramped space would be his prison. Mako shambled about the boat a moment, before dunking a bucket tied to a rope into the water below. He brings it back up and dumps the water over the mermaid and into the barrel. It sighed in relief as the cool water washed over it, and it’s gills fanned. He repeated the action a few more times until the barrel was almost full. The mermaid shifted in the water a bit like it was trying to get comfortable, and then folded it’s arms over the edge, watching Mako carefully. 

 

“So, how are we supposed to do this? I can’t exactly get to my stash if I’m stuck up here on your floaty thing”

 

“Boat.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s called a boat.” Mako corrected, looking over at the mermaid. It blinked and then nodded. “Oh, right, yeah. I knew that. Heard the word before, at least.” It rambled. “Still, ya gotta let me back into the water sometime.” Mako shook his head. “I don’t trust you. You’re slimy, I can tell. Like a rat. The moment I dump you overboard, I’ll never see you again.” The mermaid let out a hooting laugh, one that reminded him almost of a dolphin’s cackle, or a hyena. It was obnoxious. “You got me there! But if ya don’t, ya don’t get the treasure. So we gotta meet each other halfway ‘ere.” It said, and Mako knew it was right. “I’ll figure something out.” He frowned at it, and seeming to be content with that, the mermaid did a little circle in the water, before relaxing again. 

 

“Are you gonna eat that?”

“What?”

“That? Those, right there!” The fish man pointed a clawed finger at the discarded crab cage. The crab were probably waterlogged and slimey now. He wrinkled his nose and picked up the cage, handing it to the mermaid. The creature fumbled with the cage for a moment, and Mako sighed through his nose before opening the door for it. It quickly scooped out the crab and tore them apart, sloppily scarfing down the meat inside. Attractive. Suddenly, it made sense as to why the fishing lines had been torn around so violently. It may look human, but it ate like a rabid animal. 

 

“So, ya got a name?” Mako looked over as it spoke up. “Mako.” He offered simply and it perked up with bright eyes. 

 

“I’m Jamison!” Mako arched a brow.

 

“Jamison?” 

 

“Yeah, that’s what I said! Well, that’s my human name, anyways. You wouldn’t be able to pronounce my real name. Ya gotta half a certain set a’ gills to do that.” Maybe his name was nothing but chitters or something. Jamison worked. It was too human but it would work for now.


End file.
